Ethan Hawke in "First Reformed"

by Chris Feil

Paul Schrader’s First Reformed is a bit like running a psychological and spiritual marathon, an unflinching look at despair in the modern era but told with the style of Tarkovsky and Bresson to lend its concerns a punishing timelessness. All the critical hosannas it has received are spot on, but rest assured that this is one tough, bruising sit. What keeps us from running away from the trauma is the absorbing honesty of Ethan Hawke’s showcase performance.

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"Sister Brothers" Trailer + Updated Oscar Acting Charts

by Nathaniel R

Quip Quip Bang Bang. ← I probably should've saved that sentence for the eventual review of The Sisters Brothers but here we are with the trailer upon us just as we're trying to update the Oscar charts. The western comedy (?) is adapted from the novel by Patrick DeWitt which is about two assassins Eli (John C Reilly) and Charlie Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix), who are sent to a man named Warm (Riz Ahmed), who is accused of stealing from the Sisters' boss The Commodore (Rutger Hauer, unseen in this first trailer). More after the jump... 

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So many questions about the next Best Actor race

by Nathaniel R

Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges in "Boy Erased"

Resarch is coming along for the April Foolish Oscar predictions and since y'all were so helpful in extending the early Best Actress possibilities list, let's do the same for Best Actor, shall we? An early alphabetical list of leading men is after the jump...

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Film Bitch Awards Pt 2 - The Four Acting Categories

by Nathaniel R

Frances, Jamie, and Saoirse got the call. They're 3 of the 20 nominees.

The Oscar correlative Film Bitch Award nominations are now complete with the addition of all four acting categories. There's very little Oscar correlation this time with the exception of Best Actress. Hope you enjoy! Extra "fun" categories coming soon.

Part 1 - Film, Director, Picture
Part 2 - Acting Categories 
Part 3 - Visuals
Part 4 - Music and Sound (and Nomination Totals)

...and in case you missed it, the top ten list write-up.

In Defense of Denzel Washington in "Roman J. Israel, Esq."

By Spencer Coile

Last year’s Best Actor race was highly contentious. Due to an influx of coverage surrounding sexual harassment charges, many people became uncomfortable with Casey Affleck's frontrunner status. This led some Oscar gurus to prognosticate a spoiler victory for Denzel Washington for his Fences  passion project. How close the voting was we'll never know but Washington and Affleck were considered to be neck-and-neck at the end.

Still, Affleck was victorious, leaving many (most notably, Brie Larson) unhappy or furious. While the narrative is not exactly the same for the new Best Actor race, there is one common denominator: Denzel Washington.

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Does 2017 = 2005 in Best Actor?

by Ben Miller

Film blogger Jordan Ruimy posited an observation a month ago on Twitter: 

In 2002 Gary Oldman would have been a cinch to win Best Actor, in 2017 he's a major question mark. The Oscars have changed.

While the awards season definitely shifted thereafter, his tweet remains at least partially true. Look at the history of the Best Actor Oscar.  From 1990 to 1997, every winner had a specific ailment (criminal insanity, alcoholism, AIDS), while 1998 to 2001 had a run of death scenes.  Of the past 16 years, starting with Adrien Brody in 2002, 10 winners have been for portrayals of real people (Casey Affleck's win last year broke a four-year run of biopic winners). There are always patterns to Oscar behavior.

This year’s slate of Best Actor nominees has an interesting parallel with the Best Actor race of 2005.  Let’s take a look back at the lineup...

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